If You Want to Know More:

My earliest memories are of piano music and freshly cut wood.

My mom is passionate about teaching piano lessons, my dad about teaching people how to work with wood and build houses. Both of them have a deep love and satisfaction for things they have been able to create – quilts and baked goods for her, restored and new cabinetry for him.

Creativity, for me, didn’t manifest strongly in the kitchen or in the wood shop. Instead, it appeared on papers and screens as words. And though neither of them would ever find joy in writing novel-length works, I cannot deny that they are the first influencers of my art. A love of architecture and design, of wood and trees, and, always, of music, can be easily seen in every story I write.

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I am raising three self-proclaimed nerds.

The oldest loves working with his FTC Robotics team designing and programming and trouble-shooting a robot for competitions. He has the perfect blend of sarcasm and wit to be funny without being rude, and I love spending time with him.

My second has chosen to infuse her life with music. She started the violin when she was 7, added the viola two years later, and dabbles with the piano and guitar on the side. When she is feeling competitive, she will break out her Rubik’s cube and usually solve it in under a minute – without cheating.

My youngest is short and sassy. Most of her life, people have thought she was two years younger than she is, but her kindness extends beyond the capacity of even the tallest people. She is the sweetest slob I’ve ever met, and loves to dance – ballet especially – and demonstrates that small can still be fierce.

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One of my very favorite things to do is teach. I love helping people understand, love breaking things down in a way they hadn’t thought about before, and then helping tie the loose ends together. When it comes to writing, I’m particularly passionate about exploring ways to help people outline stories better, how to craft meaningful character arcs, methods of outlining, and incorporating a just right amount of detail to depict character.

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My husband and I met when I was seven. No, we were not high school sweethearts, but absolutely very close friends. I helped him ask girls to prom and homecoming, he insists all that effort I put into help him know how to act has paid off for me now. We married when I was 21 and, nearly 20 years later, I’m still crazy about the guy who loves me deeply and makes me laugh often. All of the good guys in the books that I write have a little bit of him in them.